Although my mom was a wonderful cook when I was growing up, I didn’t have much interest in making meals for my family. So, when I became a young(ish) wife, I didn’t have too much experience in making dinners. When I would do my grocery shopping, I would usually walk around the store and say…”Hmmm, that sounds like a good meal for dinner”. Then, I would try to remember what all the ingredients were and whether I had any of them in stock at home already. That led to many extra trips to the store for missing ingredients and extra spending due to impulse buys.
Fast forward to the present. Each week, I sit down and make a meal plan at the beginning of the week. My family is not too adventurous, so it usually doesn’t vary too much from week to week. But, at least I know what I’m going to have each and every day for dinner before 4 pm. I know when to pull meat out of the freezer several days ahead of time (I have an aversion to defrosting in the microwave or on the counter). It’s come in very handy lately, since I’m taking a tax class 2 nights a week, and have to have dinner ready right at 5 pm, so I can leave for my class. If I didn’t have a meal plan, it might be very tempting to order take-out, which could ruin my budget.
As I’m planning, I check out my wall calendar, to see what activities we have going on throughout the week to plan easy dinners, etc. when I know I won’t have much time to cook. I also plan ahead for other activities where I may need to bring a dish, such as bringing brownies to a church small group meeting or making dinner for a new mom at church, etc. to ensure that I have the ingredients in the house when needed.
I also use my menu plan to make my grocery shopping list. For each meal, I’ll shop my pantry, fridge, and freezer first to see what items I need to purchase. Often, I will have many of the items already stocked. Then, I add the items I do need to my list as well as the basic staples that we need like milk, bread, etc. and check Coupon Mom to see if there’s a coupon to go along with the item. I also compile a list, using the Grocery Game (if you sign up, please use centsablemomma at att dot net for your referral), of items that I wish to stockpile (to build up my pantry and freezer at rock-bottom prices), but I’ll write more about stockpiling next week. When I have a list at the grocery store, I can resist the urge to purchase impulse items, thus saving even more money.
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How do you plan your meals? Do you find that it saves you money?
Corrie is a "cents"able wife and stay-at-home mom of 2 boys.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m all about meal planning because walking around the store endlessly saying, “What to have on Wednesday…” drove me nuts.
: )
I’m an avid meal planner too. We normally have it as a guide though because I usually move things around. Those are great tips!
I need to start doing this… would definately help with the grocery shopping!
That is great Ideals. May I suggest. Writing out your meals on cards and just pick from a box every week. Then you have you list done and can just take the cards to the store to get what you need.
Hello everyone,
I, personally,pick 5 recipes from my collection on Sat. for the week-mon-fri, make grocery list (hopefully have or find coupons ) shop and then on Sunday I make as many recipes that I can portion out and freeze along with sides and deserts. On monday moring all I have to do is pick out my lunch for the day and possibly pull out my dinner to thaw in fridge. It works great for me -hope it helps you too. OH on Sunday while im doing all the cooking you have your lunch and dinner freshly made. bake a cake or some muffins and such to freeze too!